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WILKES-BARRE - Luzerne County Manager Robert Lawton will propose his first county budget Monday.

Mr. Lawton took an increase in the property tax rate off the table months ago, and that means more cuts in personnel. Officials on Friday decided to eliminate 18 jobs for correctional officers - eight will be laid off Nov. 1.

The current county employee count is 1,524, a reduction of 86 since January and a reduction of 104 since January 2011. More cuts are expected.

Despite that, District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis hopes the 2013 budget will let her office add jobs. She said she requested funding for five vacant jobs for assistant district attorneys.

Those jobs were funded in 2011 when Jackie Musto Carroll was district attorney. They became vacant this year due to two promotions and three resignations.

Mr. Lawton's budget will be the first proposed under the county home-rule charter, which eliminated a state-mandated form of government Jan. 2. In February, the new county council amended the 2012 budget adopted by the outgoing county commissioners.

By a 6-5 vote, council allocated $122.6 million in the general fund and also approved a 2 percent tax increase. Mr. Lawton replaced interim manager Tom Pribula Feb. 29 after the split decision on the budget and tax hike.

The charter requires that the manager propose the annual budget by Oct. 15. Council is required to hold at least one hearing on the proposed budget and must adopt a final budget between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15.

"I have been advocating for a specific budget committee since the beginning of the year to be properly be informed as to where the taxpayers' money is being spent," Councilman Rick Morelli said. "I believe we need to have multiple public budget hearings to fully understand the budget. What I don't want is the budget to be handed over to us and for us to just rubber stamp it."

Council has scheduled a budget hearing on Oct. 30. Council may add more hearings if needed, council Chairman Tim McGinley said.

Mr. McGinley said he wants the budget to include "the Home Rule Structure" with "all divisions identified" and "a narrative for each line item." The charter consolidated various offices into six new divisions, which were not reflected in the 2012 budget.

The county is obligated to pay more than $436 million in debt payments through 2027 to cover principal and interest costs, according to an Aug. 28 report. The debt cost in 2013 is $27.9 million.

Mr. McGinley added he didn't want "one-time fixes" in the 2013 budget. The "one-time fixes" in the 2012 budget are the use of $1.4 million in unspent bond proceeds to pay off debt and $1.2 million in state funds to reimburse domestic-relations expenses.

Contact the writer: mbuffer@citizensvoice.com

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